The Central Bank on its monthly monetary policy meeting, decided to set the interest rate in 3.5%, according to the market expectations.
Regarding to the country economy, the Central Bank pointed out that during December the IPC monthly variation was less than the expected and reached 4%. While the inflation remains on 3%.
According to the fourth trimester disclosed information, the activity and internal demand are still growing, the trust rate is still on a pessimistic level; the unemployment rate has been lower while the annual wage development has been smaller in comparison to previous months.
Regarding the external scenario, the Central Bank assured that the increase of the interest rate by the Federal reserve did not affect the global markets.But “The big surprise has been the fluctuation of financial markets associated to China”.
On this context, the currencies of emergent countries have been devaluated, including the Chilean peso.
In addition, The Central Bank highlighted the drop of the stock exchanges and the drop of raw materials such as copper and petroleum.
